Local TV Investigation: Tillis Backed Pharma-Friendly Bill While Pocketing Cash from Big Drug Companies

Campaign Finance Expert: Tillis Is “Viewed As A Very Close Ally” Of The Pharmaceutical Industry And “A Very Dependable Vote In Favor Of Their Interest” — “That Is Borne Out By The Pattern Of Contributions”

A devastating new investigation from Charlotte TV station WBTV found that Senator Thom Tillis raked in tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from drug industry PACs shortly after introducing industry-friendly legislation that removed a key provision to lower drug prices opposed by pharmaceutical companies.

According to the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the amount and timing of the political contributions were “unusual.” The campaign finance expert said Senator Tillis is “viewed as a very close ally” of the pharmaceutical industry because he is “a very dependable vote in favor of their interest and somebody who, clearly, is willing to champion their legislation, their legislative agenda.” In 2019, Senator Tillis took more donations from PACs tied to drug manufacturers “than any other member of Congress.”

Tillis’ Senate office did not respond to a request for comment. Tillis’ campaign spokesman “didn’t provide an explanation for the influx of campaign cash” and “could not… provide any evidence to show the industry opposed the bill co-sponsored by Tillis.” WBTV made “multiple requests” to ask Senator Tillis questions about this story on-camera, but “all of them were denied.”

“Senator Tillis is in the pocket of drug companies and corporate special interests, and it explains why he’s been blocking meaningful action to lower prescription drug prices,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “This pay-to-play scheme where Senator Tillis rakes in campaign cash from the pharmaceutical industry and carries their water in Washington is yet another troubling example of his political corruption costing North Carolinians.”

WBTV: Tillis took pharmaceutical money within weeks of co-sponsoring new drug price bill

By Nick Ochsner 

September 16, 2020

Key Points:

• Senator Thom Tillis accepted more than $20,000 in campaign contributions from political action committees tied to pharmaceutical companies within two weeks of sponsoring a bill related to drug prices in late 2019.

• It was similar to a competing bill that had been introduced earlier in the year by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, except that it omitted a key provision opposed by the pharmaceutical industry that would cap drug prices at inflation.

• Campaign finance records shows Tills received $20,500 in campaign contributions from political action committees tied to pharmaceutical companies in the days before and after the bill was filed; including two contributions totaling $7,000 on December 16 and 18, respectively, and seven contributions totaling $13,500 given on December 20, 26 and 31.

• The amount and timing of the contributions seem unusual to Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, which operates the campaign money-tracking website OpenSecrets.org.

• Tillis has taken the fourth most campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry in 2020…

• “I think that indicates the fact that he is viewed as a very close ally of the industry; that they view him as a very dependable vote in favor of their interest and somebody who, clearly, is willing to champion their legislation, their legislative agenda and I think that is borne out by the pattern of contributions that you examined last December.”

• A spokesman in Tillis’ Senate office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

• Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for the Tillis campaign, pushed back on the notion that the bill Tillis co-sponsored was favored by the pharmaceutical industry… Romeo could not, however, provide any evidence to show the industry opposed the bill co-sponsored by Tillis.

• WBTV made multiple requests to ask Tillis questions on-camera for this story; all of them were denied.

• In his email response for this story, Romeo didn’t provide an explanation for the influx of campaign cash…

• Krumholz, with the Center for Responsive Politics, said contributions like the bundle Tillis received immediately before and after he co-sponsored the bill don’t normally come in late December. “It is, I think, particularly notable that, in this case, money was given—kind of a good chunk of money—was given in December in an off-election year. That’s unusual timing,” she said.

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